Slow Food Movement

I’m all for crusades that help expand our knowledge about the foods we eat.

My time filming The Food Hunter was a memorable experience as I traveled the globe for the origins of fruit and vegetables and getting to know the people that grow them. Just as I did then, I’m still learning and advocating for eating local, sustainable food and asking people to be aware of what they are feeding their families. This is what the slow food movement is all about!

It’s simple! Slow food pushes back against the attitude that faster is better. For the longest time, we’ve been drawn to convenient, time saving food, and many families still are, to be honest. However, in the last couple of decades, our mindset towards what we consume has been changing on a global scale. The movement encourages us to preserve cuisine that is traditional to our regions by encouraging the saving of seeds, home-grown planting of fruits and vegetables, and sourcing local fish, sea products and livestock.

The benefits of consuming slow food include promoting the growth of our local economies through increased sustainable production. We become active members of our communities through new relationships with our farmers and fishermen. (Bonus: When you source directly from farmers and fishermen there is less disposable packaging to negatively affect our environment).

Participating in the movement requires a little bit of research, and this leads to better knowledge and decisions, resulting in a reduction of processed food, refined sugars and carbs in our diets and an increase in consumption of healthier fruits and veggies.

As with pros, there are also cons to the slow food movement. We are such a fast-paced world that it may be hard, initially, to slow down and take time to research, source, prepare and sit down to eat.

It really does take a little organization but I promise it’s absolutely worth it when you consider the overall benefits to the health and success of our families – and also for our communities!

And I’m really excited and proud that my hometown of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, is one of three slow food locations in Canada. How great is that? Watch my take on Slow Food